Gripper for hangers



April 16, 1963 R. SHERMAN GRIPPER FOR HANGERS Filed June 2, 1961 INVENTOR. RAL PH SHERMAA/ JMWM/ ATTORNEY United States atent ice 3,085,726 GRIPPER FOR HANGERS Ralph Sherman, 16 Marshall St., Irvington, NJ. Filed June 2, 1961, Ser. No. 114,396 1 Claim. (Cl. 223-91) My invention relates generally to grippers for hangers, and particularly to a trouser gripper for wire hangers in which a folded strip and clips compressibly hold the trousers by the cuffs.

It is among the objects of my invention to provide a gripper for hangers which holds the trousers by the cufis rather than by draping them at the knee.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a gripper for hangers that will not impair the neatness of pressed trousers, either at the knee or at the cuff.

Yet a further object of my invention is to provide 'a gripper which securely attaches trousers to a wire hanger and will not release them accidentally.

Yet a further object of my invention is to provide a gripper for hangers which is easy to apply, easy to use, relatively durable, and inexpensive.

These objects and advantages as well as other objects and advantages may be attained by the device illustrated in the drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a vertical section taken on the line '11 in FIGURE 2, showing a folded sheet (but without clips), embracing a wire hanger;

FIGURE 2 is a front elevation showing a trouser gripper for hangers attached to a wire hanger and holding trousers by the cuffs;

FIGURE 3 is a view of a clip;

FIGURE 4 is a partial view of the folded sheet showing the indentation channels;

FIGURE 5 is a front elevation of a gripper for wire hangers, showing the hanger holding a skirt;

FIGURE 6 is an end view of an unfolded sheet, show ing the indentation channels for receiving the wire hanger cross-bar, as well as the clips.

FIGURE 7 is an end view of a folded sheet, to which a high-friction coating has been applied, to avoid the slippage of trousers or other garments;

FIGURE 8 is a partial perspective view showing the inside of an unfolded rigid sheet on which perforations have been imposed as of high-friction surface;

FIGURE 9 is a plan view of a folded sheet, showing the indentation channels and the dimple at their intersection.

Referning now to the drawings in detail:

My trouser gripper for hangers comprises 13. rigid sheet 11 as shown in FIGURE 9. Corrugated board which is relatively rigid is preferred, since it may receive linear indentations for the hanger cross-bar, or the clips. It is relatively rigid, so that it will hold the trousers to the cross-bar. The somewhat rigid sheet is provided with a. longitudinal fold line 12; corresponding opposite horizontal indentation channels 13 deeply embossed or impressed, and running in general parallelism with the longitudinal edges of the sheet 11, are also provided. Likewise, angular indentation channels 14, 14 are provided, extending from the fold line 12, to the inner ends of the indentation channels 13, 13. The indentation channels 13, 14 intersect with each other in -a circular indentation 15.

The inside of the sheet or strip 11 is provided with a longitudinal indentation channel 16. A wire hanger 17 is provided, and the sheet 11 is folded along the fold line 12 so that the longitudinal indentation channel 16 embraces the cross-bar of the Wire hanger 17. A pair of clips 18 are provided so that when a pair of trousers (or other article) is placed between the interior surfaces of 2 the folded strip 11, the clips 18 may be applied to the longitudinal indentation channels 13, 13 (-as shown in FIGURE 2) and the trousers are firmly suspended from the hanger 17.

On the other hand, if a skirt 19 is to be suspended from the hanger, the clips 18 may not reach the channels 13, 13, but may have to be inserted over the fold 12, into the angular channels 14, 14. The skirt 19 being wider than the folded strip 11, the top angular channels 14, 14 must be used.

The dimple 15 serves :as a seat for the ends 24, 24 of a clip 18 so that the ends may seat in the dimple 20, 20. This serves to firmly anchor the clip 18 in place, regardless of which of the horizontal or angular channels 13, 14 are being used. The inner surface of the folded strip 11 may be provided with a dress 21 of high-friction material such as rubber so that the cuffs of the trousers 22 will be securely held. As an alternative, the strip 11 may have perforation-s so that there will be struckout raised internal areas 23. These perforations 23 will serve to grip trousers or skirts more securely against discharge from the folded sheet 11.

While I have referred to indentation channels, it should be understood that without such channels 13, 14, the clips 18 may nevertheless be applied to the folded sheet 11. It should also be understood that the points for application of the clips 18, 18, may be defined by indentation channels, may be undefined (without indentation channels), or may be defined by lines imprinted or marked on the sheet 11 without being indented. The indented form is preferred.

My hanger is primarily intended for the cheap wire hanger 17, although it may be used on other types of hangers. It is easily applied to a hanger 17 by folding the flat sheet of corrugated board (see FIGURE 9) in half along the fold line 12 with the longitudinal indentation channel 13 on the inside. The folded sheet 11 is then laid over a Wire hanger 17, and when an item is intruded between its inner faces, and the clips 18 applied, the item will be held suspended from the hanger 17 Rigid or semi-rigid cardboard or corrugated board is preferred for the folded sheet 11 or gripper, but other materials can be used. The clip 18 can be made of any resilient metal, plastic or other material.

The foregoing description is merely intended to illustrate an embodiment of the invention. The component parts have been shown and described. They each may have substitutes which may perform a substantially similar function; such substitutes may be known as proper substitutes for the said components and may have actually been known or invented before the present invention; these substitutes are contemplated as being within the scope of the appended claim, although they are not specifically catalogued herein. What is claimed is: A gripper for hangers comprising, a relatively wide rigid sheet longitudinally folded upon itself with opposed, generally coextensive portions,

an internal, longitudinal, indentation channel formed in the sheet at the fold line thereof in general correspondence with the fold line for receiving the crossbar of a wire hanger,

a horizontal external indentation channel formed on the outer face of the folded sheet defining a seat for a clip,

an angularly disposed external indentation channel formed on the outer face of the folded sheet intersecting with the horizontal indentation channel,

a dimple at the point of intersection,

a resilient clip applied to at least one of the indentation channels,

1 a: 2 :1 high-friction surface on the opposed inner portions 1,893,508 Rosenburg Ian. 10, 1933 Of the folded Sheet. 2,583,784 Maccaferri I an. 29, 1952 2,653,740 Tufts Sept. 29, 1953 References Cited 1n the file of th1s patent 2,811,292 Neudecker et a1 0 Oct. 29 1957 UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 2,898,024 Ienson Aug. 4, 1959 690,286 Hines Dec. 31, 1901 

